Johannes (A) van der Ven – författare

Religionerna spelar idag en tydlig roll i offentligheten, i Sverige och internationellt. Det är inte längre självklart att religion försvinner i ett modernt samhälle, alternativt blir något vissa ägnar sig åt privat eller i krympande kyrkor. Utvecklingen tar sig många olika uttryck. Ett uttryck är att kyrkor i Sverige offentligt tar ställning för en generös flyktingpolitik eller mot försämringar i den svenska välfärden, ett annat är pressdebatter om religiösa inslag vid skolavslutningar, omskärelse av pojkar och Guds existens. Ytterligare ett uttryck är religiöst legitimerat våld och terror, ett annat är den centrala roll muslimska föreställningar om människans värdighet spelade för demokratiaktivister under den arabiska våren. Religionens offentlighet. Om religionens plats i samhället behandlar denna utveckling och de frågor den väcker ur samhällsvetenskapliga, historiska, filosofiska och religionsvetenskapliga perpektiv. Med förankring i svensk och internationell forskning beskrivs utvecklingen och diskuteras utifrån konkreta exempel. Konstruktiva förslag ges till hur religiösa organisationer och individer kan delta i offentliga samtal och samhälleligt liv.

This book argues that contemporary Christianity is in crisis because freedom of religion is concealed and under pressure by secularization and migration. A drastic change is necessary - in the Catholic Church at first - from a God-given hierarchical structure to a democratic religion that rests on human dignity and human rights.The text conveys that such a change -that should happen from within- will put an end to challenges such as in Catholicism where outside human rights are promoted, but from inside a different story is told. Cultural change in religion is also covered with the move from centuries-old dictates to the reasonable justification of freedom of experiences, symbols, rituals and inter-religious intercourse as well as the cross communication between believers and non-believers alike. This approach makes religion an as yet unfinished religion.  The text appeals to researchers and academics working in human rights and religion.

This book argues that contemporary Christianity is in crisis because freedom of religion is concealed and under pressure by secularization and migration. A drastic change is necessary - in the Catholic Church at first - from a God-given hierarchical structure to a democratic religion that rests on human dignity and human rights.The text conveys that such a change -that should happen from within- will put an end to challenges such as in Catholicism where outside human rights are promoted, but from inside a different story is told. Cultural change in religion is also covered with the move from centuries-old dictates to the reasonable justification of freedom of experiences, symbols, rituals and inter-religious intercourse as well as the cross communication between believers and non-believers alike. This approach makes religion an as yet unfinished religion.  The text appeals to researchers and academics working in human rights and religion.

The relation between religion and human rights is a contested one, as they appear to compete with one another. Religion is often considered to represent a tradition of heteronomy and subordination in premodern times. Human rights emerged from early modern and modern times and stand for principles like human dignity, autonomy, equality. The first question in this book is how to define religion, its meaning, functions and structures, and how to study it. The second question is how to understand religion from its relation with human rights in such a way that justice is done to both religion and human rights. These questions are dealt with using a historical and systematic approach. The third question is what the impact of religion might be on attitudes towards human rights, i.e. human rights culture. For an answer, empirical research is reported among about 1000 students, Christians, Muslims, and nonreligious, at the end of secondary and the beginning of tertiary education in the Netherlands.

This volume contains theoretical and empirical articles on tensions within and between religion and human rights. There are conflicts in the past histories of Christianity and Islam in regard to human rights, but also in contemporary history. There are also tensions in the sphere of human rights, like the relation between natural law and human rights, morality and law, liberty and equality, civil rights and socio-economic rights, and more specific ones, like the rights of humans and citizens, religious freedom and the separation of church and state, religious freedom and freedom of speech, and the state and religion on social welfare provisions. The volume aims at theoretical clarification and empirical exploration on data from 14 countries.Contributors include: Jean-Pierre Wils, Piet Hein van Kempen, Mathias Rohe, Johannes (Hans) van der Ven, Anders Sjöborg, Raymond J. Webb, Jack Curran, Marion Reindl, Leo W.J.M. van der Tuin, Clement D. Fumbo, and Hans-Georg Ziebertz.